I have a 1997 cr-v with an auto trans. The front right axle slipped out of the tranny. The splines on the end were quite worn so I decided to get a new one. I can’t get it to seat completely. I even removed the c-clip to see if it was impeding the axle from going in. My only question is regarding the ring gear in the tranny. The splines look okay but it moves around quite a bit. Is this normal?

 

Id' put that c-clip back on if you decide to drive the car. This seems like an Eric the Car Guy question on youtube, the visual presentation may be better to learn from.

 

There should be a couple millimeters of play with the axle fully seated into the differential. It should move very very slightly in the inward/outward direction and a little bit more than that is normal in the side-to-side direction. You may have damaged the splines on the differential. Your obviously going to need to run the c clip for driving the car but what sort of difference did you see as far as play and insertion with the clip attached and removed? Is the problem that the axle is not fully inserting into the diff? Or is it that it seats completely but still has play? It is very uncommon to have an axle pop out of the trans on its own, especially on a Honda. I would definitely look into the cause for this. Most likely bad suspension bushings, ball joints or motor mounts.